Fiddly Tax Credits TP query

Hi there all, just looking to see if anyone knows the answer to this.

Client has received migration notice - she needs to have claimed UC by October. She is currently on ESA/CTC/CB/HB/PIP. Her ESA includes an SDP.

She has an 18 year old son who has just finished his last year at sixth form. He is planning to start at Uni in September.

On CTCs he remains a qualifying young person until the 31st August (which also protects the SDP till this date). As far as I can tell on UC he would have ceased being a QYP the same day that he finished at school.

So I have advised client that we need to claim UC by the end of August at the latest as otherwise the CTCs/CB will stop, she will no longer be entitled to SDP and will not get any Transitional Protection.

I was about to go ahead and make the claim with her but then had a moment of doubt - if we claim now will she also get TP to cover her for the CTCs that she will lose between now and the end of August? Client is really struggling and I need to squeeze out every last bit of entitlement. If she does get TP will she keep this even after the end of August? My understanding was that this would at least be the case with the SDP TP?

Many thanks and have a nice weekend!

She will not automatically get TP for the child element, as for the ‘indicative UC amount’ calculation they simply take the number of children from the tax credits award, per Reg. 54(2)(a) of the UC(TP) Regs.

However, there is a strong argument that they shouldn’t do this, as the child is not a QYP for UC purposes, so on a proper reading of Reg 54(2)(a), it shouldn’t apply to that child (see the definition of QYP in Reg 2(1)).

(The argument would be that only a child who is actually a QYP for UC purposes is caught by that Reg. For example, if a child is studying abroad, so is not included in the UC award because of Reg 4(7) of the UC Regs, but is still a QYP under the UC rules, then they would be caught by this rule.)

Got it, thanks Charles 😊 !